Reformat your hard disk more frequently than your government
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): Each time a friend reports that his PC crashes quite frequently and asks me to fix it, I will almost always suggest that he just erase the entire hard disk and install everything afresh.
This is particularly true when he admits that his Windows '95 or '98 seems to be corrupted, or one or two critical files seem to be missing or a virus has obviously wreaked havoc in his hard disk.
I'm perfectly aware that some people do enjoy and take pride in tinkering with the settings, the Registry and .INI files to find the culprit. Unfortunately, I don't have the persistence that they have, and I don't have the luxury of being able to spend hours just to find a needle in a haystack. If the system is so messed up, my solution is invariably to start from scratch.
A couple of years ago, I suggested the same thing in this column as I discussed the way to purge everything from the hard disk with the help of the DOS-based Norton Utilities.
There are certainly a number of benefits in wiping out the entire contents of your hard disks once in a while. First and foremost, it's like moving into a new house. It forces you to select which of the stuff you have at your present home that you really need, and which you can just dispose of.
Similarly, as you need to backup your data files before reformatting your hard disk, it's an opportunity to look into the My Document folder, for example, and select which files you really want to keep and which ones are no longer needed.
Second, by reinstalling all the applications you need, you can get rid of those downloaded shareware programs that you may not like but have already installed on your system anyway. In other words, it gives you the opportunity to have a clean slate.
Third, working with a newly reinstalled system -- provided it has been reinstalled properly -- gives you a fresh working environment. It's like having your house repainted.
Backing up
Of course there are files that you don't want to lose. If you have a Zip drive or an LS 120 drive, life may be easier because you can store 100 MB of data or more on a single cartridge. You may even copy the entire contents of the My Document folder into the removable media. But, unfortunately, you would also miss the rare opportunity to tidy up that folder.
At any rate, you should use Windows Explorer or any other file manager to take a look at the files stored in this folder as well as in any other folder where your applications store their data. For example, I would print out the list of addresses in my Outlook Express' Address Book. You should also find the list of fax numbers in Winfax Pro and copy it on a diskette.
You may also want to create a backup copy of the shareware or freeware that you've downloaded from the Internet. If necessary, use file compression utilities such as Winzip or PK Zip to compress all the files that you are backing up.
And then, if you don't already have it, create a Startup diskette. Your PC may have a different CD-ROM drive than your neighbor's PC, so perhaps his Startup diskette will not work properly in yours. I've already shown you the way to create a Startup diskette for your system (insert the Windows '95 or '98 Setup CD, go to Control Panel, click on Add and Remove Programs, and click on the Startup Diskette tab).
Once you're sure you've made a backup copy of all these cherished files and you've got the Startup diskette ready, you can go ahead and reformat the entire hard disk. Reboot the system first, with the Startup diskette in Drive A:.
Incidentally, your PC BIOS may have been set up to skip the floppy diskette drive and read the hard disk directly. A gentleman encountered this problem some time ago. He was frustrated, because each time he reset the system it would never read the diskette in Drive A:. If you experience the same situation, first go into the BIOS Setup and change the setting so that the system will read A: before it reads C:. While you're there, also disable the virus warning option so that you can write on the boot sector of the hard disk without any problems.
Start installing
If you're sure that your hard disk is not infected with a virus, reformatting will suffice. If you believe that it has some stubborn virus lurking in some hidden area, you will have to use Norton Utilities or a similar product to purge all the data on the hard disk.
If you destroy the contents of the hard disk completely, you'll have to run FDISK to create a partition on the hard disk. Later versions of Windows '95 or Windows '98 will ask you whether you want to use the large hard disk sizes or the conventional DOS maximum limit of two GB per logical drive. In many cases, if you have a hard disk with capacity exceeding two GB, you can go ahead and allocate the entire hard disk to one single drive. We will discuss the pros and cons of doing this in another article.
Once you're done with FDISK, you'll have to reformat the hard disk to enable Windows '95 or '98 to copy its installation files onto it.
Once the reformatting is done, check whether your hard disk has bad sectors. If it does, write down the size -- and the current date -- on a piece of paper. This will be useful later on when you check the health of your hard disk (if the number of bad sectors grows quickly, you may have to prepare yourself to buy a new hard disk).
Then reboot your PC. Once you have the A: prompt back, go to the CD-ROM in D: and type in Setup. Windows '95 or '98 will start the installation process.
What's next after the operating system is properly installed? I would suggest installing the latest antivirus program, such as the one from McAfee or Norton. After that, I would suggest installing the main programs such as Office 2000, CorelDraw, Internet Explorer, Winfax Pro and the rest. Normally you'll have to reboot after installing each of these programs, and this enables you to check whether any of them conflict with other programs which have already been installed.
Once you've reinstalled the major programs, you can proceed with small utilities such as Yamaha's Ystation or Logitech's MouseWare. Last, you can copy your data files back into My Document and other data folders. Remember, like arranging your new house, you can continue to improve your PC environment as you work.